A woman claims she “nearly died” after spending nine hours in agony on a hospital corridor waiting to be treated for her chronic condition.
Joanna Oliver, who has Crohn's disease, recalls feeling like she was going to die when she experienced a blockage in her stoma – a potentially life-threatening complication if left untreated.
The 51-year-old from Essex went to A&E at Basildon Hospital in Essex in July 2025 when she felt discomfort and cramps, but she was forced to wait all night to be treated.
“I was in the corridor, waiting for a scan, surrounded by drunk people and families. Because of the pain and the morphine, I wet myself. They gave me a urinary catheter in the corridor,” she told The Independent.
She added that her bed linen wasn’t changed and she wasn’t seen by a doctor until 6am, when her complication was treated.
But Ms Oliver isn’t alone; hundreds of thousands patients across the country experience corridor care with long waits without beds, overcrowded spaces and a lack of privacy, every year.
This year, cases skyrocketed during the heatwave. An average of 2,300 patients received corridor care in A&E departments in England each day in July, along with 728 patients elsewhere in hospital wards, totalling 3,028.
Source: The Independent, 10 November 2026
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